The Inheritance Cycle, formerly known as the Inheritance Trilogy is a series of High Fantasy novels written by Christopher Paolini. The first book was originally self-published by Paolini and his parents, but has since migrated to Alfred A Knopf on the recommendation of Carl Hiaasen. It contains the following books:

The novels tell the tale of Eragon, a farmboy who discovers a dragon egg in the mountains and is amazed when it hatches for him. He raises the dragon, Saphira, and becomes bonded with her as a Dragon Rider. Unfortunately, the evil Galbatorix, the ruler of The Empire who betrayed and destroyed the Dragon Riders long ago, finds out, and sends his impenetrably cowled Ra'zac servants to capture Eragon and Saphira. They escape, but the Ra'zac burn down Eragon's home and kill his uncle. Our heroes set out for revenge, joined by the village's old storyteller, Brom, who, as it turns out, is a former Dragon Rider himself. On their quest, Eragon and Saphira meet up with a badass Anti-Hero with a Mysterious Past, rescue an elf princess, join the Varden, learn the truth about Eragon's past and his missing father, and face down foes far more powerful than themselves—eventually culminating in a final battle against Galbatorix himself.

The first book was adapted into a film in 2006, but after the film got extremely negative critical reception and relatively underperformed at the box office, there are currently no plans for any movie sequels. However, there is a petition for a reboot, and Paolini has spoken about the movie, saying that it told its own story in the same vein that the books told their own story, and left it to the fans of the series to determine which story they like better.

The final title in the series, Inheritance, answered a number of key mysteries regarding the series, such as what was contained in the Vault of Souls and the fates of major characters like Galbatorix and Eragon, but left open certain nagging mysteries such as the source of the witch Angela's powers. Following its publication, author Christopher Paolini floated a number of possibilities regarding what he might work on in the future, including a hypothetical fifth title, spin-off titles focusing on characters other than Eragon, or separate works in other genres. However, no further titles have been published and no new projects have been officially announced yet.

All titles in the series have been published in multiple languages, including German, Spanish and Swedish, among others.

This series of books provides examples of:

Aborted Arc: Roran's job at Dempton's mill in Therinsford. He takes it in Eragon in hopes of having money to marry Katrina, and it's a big plot point for a few chapters. But Roran gets Put on a Bus when he leaves for the mill, and is not seen for the rest of the book. And the job itself ends up being cut short by the death of his father, and Roran is back in Carvahall by the beginning of Eldest.

All of the Riders' swords are this. All regular steel blades are no greater than cottage cheese in combat with a Riders' sword, and the elf who makes them uses a special kind of metal called Brightsteel, which gives the swords increased sharpness and durability - said characteristics are either partly due to, or further enhanced by the fact that magic is heavily used in the forging process.

The Ace: Arya and Angela are both good at magic, physical combat, and related skills, but Angela is a Plucky Comic Relief character most of the time.

Achey Scars: The gigantic scar that Eragon got during his battle with Durza causes him immense pain until it is healed in the second book.

Aerith and Bob: We have characters named Garrow, Eragon, Roran, Helen, Sloan, and Selena all from the same out-of-the-way village. Eragon's name is at least noted as odd (he's named after an elf).

This occurs with place names as well-as noted by a reviewer of Brisingr in The Sydney Morning Herald (an Australian newspaper), it was strange to see fantastical names such as Uru'Baen alongside more commonplace names such as Lithgow. Word of God states that this is because of many cultures having inhabited the land and left behind place names.

The Eragon Sporkings point out in the dissection of Eragon that most, if not all, of the important people have exotic names. Thus, it would follow that the characters themselves are aware of this, which explains why two protagonists who need to sneak into a city choose ordinary names (by Earth standards) and that their obvious unimportance is why the guards wave them on through when they give their names.

Amplifier Artifact: By storing energy in gems, they can be turned into power-sources that will up the magical abilities of anyone using them. They're also commonly used as lights when more common methods are impractical or dangerous but damaging one of them results in a big explosion.

And I Must Scream: Carn kills an enemy mage with a spell that freezes him in place as all the moisture leaks out of his body while he decays until nothing is left but dust.

Anti-Hero: Murtagh all the way. Elva also seems to be leaning in this direction after her curse was broken and she was able to use her empathetic powers without direct cost to herself.

Anti-Magical Faction: Galbatorix has the ultimate goal of restricting all magic use, though he doesn't wish to wipe it out entirely. He claims that magic is the great unfairness in the world, as someone either can or cannot use it; there is no learning to use magic.

Arrow Catch: Eragon in the second book when a volley of arrows is unleashed at him. He deflects most of them with magic, and catches one in his hand.

Author Appeal: Arguably the elves, particularly Arya (whose beauty is oft-mentioned in the narration, and leaves Eragon in awe). However, Paolini says his favourite race is the dwarves (he often speaks a bit in Dwarvish when he goes to IRL events).

Automaton Horses: Lampshaded with the elves' horses. Both played straight and lampshaded elsewhere, such as in the first book where they ride through a desert for almost a week, although Eragon does use magic to raise water from the ground.

Author Avatar: According to some, Eragon is Christopher Paolini and Angela is, well, his sister Angela. Paolini himself admits that Angela is based on his sister, and that Eragon "started out" as an autobiographical character but eventually developed into his own character.

Badass Normal: Roran is one of the few normal humans among the main cast, but he still manages to win a wrestling match with an Urgal, among other impressive feats.

Because Destiny Says So: Eragon decides at the end of the fourth book to leave Alagaesia forever only because a prophecy in the first book said he would.

Big Bad: Galbatorix, a former Dragon Rider who turned evil, destroyed the other Riders and took over/is trying to take over the world.

Bittersweet Ending: The Big Bad is dead, but half the surviving Eldunarya are insane, the couples have to be separated, Nasuada has the duty of queen, Murtagh and Thorn are outcast and Eragon has to leave Alagaesia forever too. Although that was something of a Foregone Conclusion.

The Berserker: In Brisingr, Imperial berserkers who have had their ability to feel pain magically removed are introduced. Additionally, despite developing into a strong military commander capable of devising plans nobody else could ever think of, Roran is capable of summoning a berserk-like rage that allows him to slay nearly 200 soldiers in one battle.

Body Horror: The bewitched soldiers in the third book feel no pain, and thus fight through dismemberment that by all rights should have killed them. Most Varden lose their nerve while fighting these guys, because fighting someone with half his face hanging off his bare skull — who laughs at you, no less — is horrifying.

A Boy and His X: X being dragon. Eragon and Saphira, and also Murtagh and Thorn.

Can't Argue with Elves: Since Paolini's Elves are pretty and magical, they know everything and are very happy to tell you that.

Cast from Hit Points: Ordinarily, magic works like this. Except for dragon riders, who can borrow their dragon's hit points (and dragons have plenty to spare). Skilled magic users can borrow hit points from the local wildlife (killing it in the process if they aren't careful). Except for people who get hold of an Eldunari, who can borrow a dead dragon's hit points.

Cast From Stamina: Magic users expend as much energy when performing a task by magic as they would doing the same task by conventional means.

Cessation of Existence: The elves and the dragons believe this happens when living things die. It's left unknown if they're right though.

The Chains of Commanding: Trianna says it's wise Eragon doesn't want to be king, because a king is simply a man imprisoned by his duties.

Changeling Tale: These are apparently very common among human-folk. Thus, when Elain is having a child and Eragon asks Arya the elf to assist, she does so, but is very careful not to interfere too much because people fear her intentions. Then, when the child is born with a cleft lip, Eragon is called upon to heal the child. Before he takes the child away, he consents to allow the village healer Gertrude to accompany him into the tent where he goes to heal her, as he is mindful of Arya's warnings about fear of changelings. He knows that her presence will reassure the villagers.

Chekhov's Gun: When Glaedr tells Saphira to "keep her heart safe" before she and Eragon leave to go help the Varden fight the Empire's army in Eldest. Later revealed that he was referring to a special magic stone every dragon has called an Eldunari which is basically their source of magical power and where their souls go if the Eldunari is removed from their bodies, they're also the source of Galbatorix's power, so that's quite a big gun.

The Chosen One: When Saphira hatches for him, Eragon becomes the first new Dragon Rider in a century, as well as a symbol for all those who oppose Galbatorix.

Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Angela, who comes out with random nonsequiturs frequently. In her spare time, she tries to prove that toads don't exist.

Come to Gawk: In Inheritance, Sloan believes that this is what Eragon wants when Eragon comes to visit around the end of the book, but he's off-the-mark. Eragon had forgotten Sloan was there until he spotted him and feels so guilty about bringing Sloan's daughter, Katrina, there when he knows that he can't see her that he restores Sloan's eyes, which had been pecked away by the Ra'zac.

Covered in Mud: In Eldest, Eragon has a seizure caused by a cursed injury to his back. He's feeling terrible already because of the seizure and because it was in front of his teacher, but then he becomes especially embarrassed when he realizes that rolling around on the ground caused him to get his clothes (which were new and a gift from the elves) covered in dirt/mud.

Creation Myth: According to the dwarven calendar in the deluxe edition of Eldest, the world was created 8000 years ago by several gods, after they vanquished the giants.

The punishment of Sloan drew from this. When Eragon wonders whether he was justified in his punishment, the kings who have a concept of divine right to rule tell Eragon that he has the authority to punish people without sentencing them to death.

Nasuada, being female, has to go to great lengths to prove herself capable of leading the Varden.

Denied Food as Punishment: In Inheritance, Nasuada suspects that Galbatorix might do this to her after she kills her jailer. Instead, he does something so much more horrifying that she likely can barely think of food when it's over, yet alone eat any.

The Determinator: Roran. He'll do absolutely anything to accomplish his goals, and woe onto anyone who gets in his way.

Deus ex Machina: Frequently, especially the Blood Oath Ceremony, which magically transforms Eragon in a super-attractive half-elf and heals his crippling back scar. Also Saphira who says she can change reality in some unspecified way, although not at will. Although this is not unique to her, all the dragons can.

Mmm....she's doomed! You're doomed!! They're all doomed! Notice I didn't specify what kind of doom, so no matter what happens, I predicted it. How very WISE of me.

Doorstopper: Each successive book is about 150-200 pages longer than the previous instalment, with Brisingr topping out at 748 pages. This is the reason for Book Four; "Book Three" was pushing 900 pages and not even halfway finished.

A reprinting of Eragon and Eldest in a single volume dubbed the "Inheritance Omnibus" is 1216 pages long and large enough to crush a small dog if dropped from sufficient height.

The Japanese translation of Eldest is so large that it is split into two books.

Another way to consider it - the audiobook version of Brisingr runs 29 hours and 39 minutes, while the audiobook of Inheritance runs 31:22, though both of these do include an interview between Paolini and his editor that runs about a half hour. Either way, you're looking at well over a day of continuous listening if you wanted to listen to the entire thing all at once.

Dragon Rider: Eragon, naturally. Also, Oromis, Murtagh and Galbatorix count. Brom, Orik, and Arya have also ridden Saphira at various points, Brom was also a Rider before his dragon was killed.

The Dragon: Murtagh and his literal dragon, who are the dragons for his evil King, and his dragon. Prior to him joining up with Galbatorix, the role of the Dragon was Durza the Shade, and in the backstory before Durza, Morzan the Dragon Rider.

Elaborate Underground Base: The dwarven capital, Tronjheim, is a city built like a small mountain inside the crater of a much larger extinct volcano so tall the top is inaccessible, even to dragons, making it only accessible by underground tunnels.

Eldritch Abomination: Galbatorix' dragon is so insanely huge Eragon initially thinks it's part of the castle. He has a minor freakout when he figures it out.

Elective Monarchy: The dwarf clan chiefs vote to appoint another king or queen upon the creation of a vacancy in the position. In Brisingr, after the death of La Résistance-friendly King Hrothgar, a few isolationist clans unsuccessfully oppose the royal candidacy of Orik, his nephew and heir. The elves do the same in Inheritance too, with a number of families, noble houses and elders required to consent on the choice. Arya is the one they appoint in the end.

Elves vs. Dwarves: Although they aren't exactly best friends, they do get on better than most Elves vs. Dwarves do, although arguably only due to a common enemy. Also, a huge desert in between them probably helps.

The Empath: Elva gains the ability to sense others' pain as a consequence of Eragon's botched blessing.

Enemy to All Living Things: Eragon learns how to draw power from all life around him to boost his own magic, draining nearby things of their Life Energy. The result is plants and small animals dying around him when he needs extra power, if he isn't careful.

The Empire: About a century prior to the start of the series, Galbatorix usurped the throne of the Broddring Kingdom, then went on a spree of conquest. The result, referred to as "the Empire", is a large state ruled over with an iron fist by Galbatorix.

Expy: The series has gotten a lot of accusations for this, with critics claiming that the series is Star Wars in a fantasy setting and/or ripping off scenes or entire plots from other series.

Evil Redhead: Shades. In fact, being transformed into a Shade gives the victim crimson hair.

Forgiveness: Forgiveness is something of a theme in the series. In Eldest, after Saphira apologizes to Eragon for giving him the cold-shoulder throughout most of the book because she was infatuated with Glaedr, Eragon tells her that "Family members forgive one another, even if they don't always understand why someone acts in a certain way. You are as much my family as Roran."

Functional Magic: Basically follows an Inherent Gift structure (though Dragon Riders get a Gift for free), and mages must memorize various magic words for things and then combine them to create spells.

Geas: A character who swears an oath in the Ancient Language is incapable of breaking it (though they only have to obey the letter, not the spirit). What is more, a person can be compelled to swear such an oath by someone who knows their true name. There is an out, however-if who they are changes so much that their True Name in the Ancient Language changes, all oaths they've sworn up to that point are null-and-void.

Healing Hands: Healing magic is used often in the series, and most magic is channeled through the user's hands.

Here There Were Dragons: 100 years ago, Evil Overlord Galbatorix threw down the Dragon Riders and forced every magic user to swear loyalty to himself and swear the Empire, resulting in magic becoming much rarer, dragons nearly going extinct, and the power of the elves to begin to fade away. However, Galbatorix regrets his past actions and is now actively working to resurrect the dragons under his command.

Heroic Resolve: Roran uses a lot of this to survive being given 50 freaking lashes!

Heroic Suicide: Elven Dragon Rider Thuriel set off the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb by releasing the energy of his body, which required him to die in the process, saving dragon eggs from Galbatorix on Vroengard.

Hero Insurance: Eragon, being the poster boy for the Varden, has a license to kill, maim, and destroy as much as he pleases. Possible Subversion in Brisingr when Eragon finds a man that he had previously stolen from and pays him far over the original price with gold, while he says he really didn't mind, considering how Eragon used them and that he destroyed the rest before leaving Carvahall anyway.

Hollywood Tactics: Everyone sucks at battle-planning, doing things no sane person who has at least played a Total War game would do, like having archers and siege weapons shoot into a melee, abandoning a perfectly good defensive position to meet a smaller enemy force in the open field, and having heavy infantry charge a great distance.

Humble Pie: Glaedr swears up and down to Eragon and Saphira that there is no way, not in a million years, that the Vault of Souls could possibly contain Eldunari. When it turns out to contain not only those, but dragon eggs as well, he is at once overjoyed, triumphant and shocked, but also has to eat a heavy amount of crow. It turns out that Oromis, Glaedr, and several other dragons and riders agreed to store the remaining free Eldunari and eggs deep underground and placed a memory enchantment over everyone in Alagaesia to the exception of the next free dragon and rider (Eragon and Saphira) to prevent Galbatorix from learning about it and taking them for himself. It's unclear exactly why the possibility of how they were hidden the way that they were (deep underground) never occurred to him.

I Am Who?: Eragon's identity is a closely kept secret until Brisingr wherein it's revealed that he is the son of Brom.

Idiot Hero: Eragon's youth and lack of education shows on occasion, such as when he makes a grammatical error in the Ancient Language that turns his blessing into a curse.

Idiosyncratic Cover Art: Each novel in the series introduces a new, differently-colored dragon as a character. This dragon gets his/her picture on the cover of the book, and the book is the same color as his/her hide.

I Don't Pay You to Think: A Deconstructed Trope in Brisingr. Roran has joined the Varden's army and been sent on a dangerous mission in one of the towns of Galbatorix. He's been given temporary command of a group of warriors, but is still under the command himself of a captain who has just ordered a rock-headed strategy to attack the town that is essentially suicide, a head-on assault pretty much guaranteed to result in failure. After the captain leaves, Roran implements his own strategy, but warns that everyone in his group may be made to take the punishment. All follow him and he ends up killing nearly 200 enemy forces through his own strength, secures the victory, and ends up rescuing the idiot captain and what few soldiers of his own he has remaining. Afterwards, Roran is stripped of his weapon and left for appropriate punishment. Upon return to the Varden, Roran is hailed by a hero, but still ordered that he must take 100 lashes if he wishes to remain with the Varden, the Varden's leader Nasuada explaining that his punishment must be severe and must be public, or else others will believe they too can disobey orders and the chain of command will break down. Afterwards, she promotes him to captain, as he is too valuable to lose, and this way she can be sure that the only orders he can disobey are hers, which had better only happen if it's in the process of directly killing Galbatorix.

I Know Your True Name: Used in conjunction with Words Can Break My Bones. In Inheritance, before Angela the herbalist kills the high priest of Helgrind, she tells him that it should know her name, and then whispers her name in its ear. We don't get to hear what it is, but whatever it is is enough for the priest to emit a sustained, horrified shriek before Angela says "Oh, enough already!" and stabs it to death.

Immortal Procreation Clause: Dwarves, who live much longer than humans, are repeatedly stated to reproduce at a slower rate. This is even more extreme with the immortal-unless-killed elves, who are even less prolific than the dwarves. At the beginning of the cycle, it's been over a decade since the last elf children(twins) were born.

Indo-European Alien Language: In the early books, the Ancient Language apparently follows exactly the same grammatical constructions and rules as English. This was cruelly exposed in Eldest, where Paolini also drops a huge clanger when Oromis talks about Eragon's screw-up with Elva, applying idiosyncratic rules of English, wrongly, to his fictional language. (Just for the record, "May you be shielded," is not in the past tense). This is improved on in later books.

Instant Expert: Eragon learns magic faster than any of the other characters, despite him being Just a Kid. He also learns to read in a week, and never has literacy problems after that, in either his own or the Ancient Language.

Killed Off for Real: Many characters. Glaedr just happens to have survived by giving away his 'heart of hearts'.

King Incognito: Murtagh appears to be just an ordinary rogue, albeit one with a lot of expensive stuff, until it is revealed that he is the son of Morzan, Galbatorix's most powerful general, and soon after takes his father's place as the Empire's champion.

Knight Templar: Nasuada and Eragon, arguably, and the Varden in general. In fact, all the factions (both good and bad) have traits of this, except the dwarves.

Language of Truth: The same as the language of magic. Doesn't apply when written though, only spoken or when in someone's mind. Any oath sworn in the Ancient Language is also binding, making it impossible to break unless you are released from it.

The Lancer: Roran increasingly adopts this role in the Varden and the narrative structure of the series itself.

Little Miss Snarker: Elva has a lot of colorful things to say to the people around her, helped by her ability to deduce a lot of information about them with her powers. Eragon in particular ends up on the receiving end of it.

The Load: Eragon himself in the first two books, as he always has to either become unconscious or be saved by someone in order to get anything done.

Logical Weakness: Elva can deliver breaking speeches due to her knowledge of what pains everyone... so Galbatorix just stops her from speaking with a spell to begin with.

Loophole Abuse: If you know someone's true name, you can use the Ancient Language to compel them to do your bidding, but your orders have to be very specific. This was how Murtagh was able to allow Eragon to remain free at the end of Eldest — "Galbatorix ordered me to try to capture you, and I did try." In latter installments, it becomes obvious that Galbatorix has modified his orders to prevent this sort of thing, but the fact that Murtagh is still able to flee at all indicates that the orders are now something along the lines of "Capture him if at all possible, but flee if you can if it becomes obvious you can't win at the moment."

Magibabble: Oromis gets quite in depth about the rules of magic. Justified in that the misuse of magic can easily result in the death of the magician, those around the magician, or other catastrophic consequences.

Magic A Is Magic A: Actually quite consistent and elaborate rules of magic govern the use of the Ancient Language.

Magically Binding Contract: Anything someone swears to do in the Ancient Language will be done-it compels them. The only out is if their personality gets changed so much they really aren't the same person as who swore it.

Magic Knight: Shades, Elves, and Dragonriders tend to train in both combat and magic.

Mayfly–December Romance: Eragon and Arya. (Interestingly, Arya once indirectly described such a relationship to be viewed by the elves as similar to paedophilia on the elves' part. And it's implied that the perfect elves may not be right about everything after all.)

Meaningful Name: "Eragon" is "dragon" with one letter changed, but then Paolini retconned this into "era gone by".

Million Mook March: Galbatorix's army, fully marshalled at the end of Eldest numbers over 100,000. To put that into perspective, the Varden's forces number about 4,000 at the start of the books.

Mind Probe: The main psychic power. Unfortunately, this particular ability can be used for Mind Rape.

Mind Rape: Often used by the Big Bad. Also done by the Twins on Eragon — they just didn't care about the pain they caused as long as they got what they wanted to know.

Mundane Utility: Magic can be used for any number of mundane purposes. One such example is that when Oromis gives Eragon a razor for shaving, it cuts Eragon so badly that he devises a spell for shaving and from then on shaves in that matter. This is something that is explored in some detail, and even commented upon by certain other characters who fear magic and are disturbed by Eragon's unnatural clean-shavedness even at hours of the day when it wouldn't be normal. Whether or not Oromis did this on purpose to get Eragon to discover the spell is left up to the reader to ponder, though it is indicated that magicians have used such methods with their apprentices in the past. If apprentices didn't tap into their magical power on their own, then the magician would set them some mundane task such as moving a large pile of rocks until they finally grew so frustrated that they unconsciously tapped into their magic for the first time.

Name Amnesia: When the dragons learned that the thirteen dragons of the Forsaken had turned against their own kind and were actively helping the Forsaken to kill and enslave their own kind, the free dragons grew angry. They gathered their power and performed one of their inexplicable works of magic. Somehow, they stripped the Thirteen of their names. From that moment on, no one could remember, read, write, or speak any name belonging to those dragons. Common names, true names, nicknames, everything. They could not even say "I like this" or "I dislike that", because to do so would be to name themselves.

Not So Different: The heroes have committed some distasteful actions of their own, such as poisoning Galbatorix's army before a battle. Lampshaded by Elva, who points out to Eragon "Galbatorix would approve." when he tries to forcibly remove her powers after botching the job the first time.

Offered the Crown: Eragon is given the chance to become king of Alagaesia, but quickly turns it down. Nasuada takes over instead.

The Only One: By the last book, Eragon is the last sane, free Dragon Rider left after Brom is killed by Durza and Murtagh is enslaved by Galbatorix, who mind controls him into killing Oromis and Glaedr. Though at the end of it, Murtagh is freed and Arya becomes a rider as well, and there are more eggs to be hatched.

Orcus on His Throne: Galbatorix, while strong enough to wipe out the Varden by himself, decides to spend his time in the capital city, Uru'baen. Lampshaded when Nasuada thinks about how Galbatorix's pride is the only thing keeping the Varden from being destroyed.

Our Elves Are Better: Elves are portrayed similarly to Tolkien's, being immortal, wiser, faster, stronger and more beautiful than the other races and highly skilled at magic.

Our Orcs Are Different: They're called Urgals. They also turn out to have been under Mind Control of the Shade Durza. Once released, they're so pissed off with Galbatorix that they swiftly move to join the Varden, a move that is reluctantly accdepted. They prove powerful and erstwhile allies. In the end, Eragon is so impressed with them, and also concerned politically about their future, that he grants them the power to become dragon riders.

Also there's Thorn, born close to a year after Saphira yet is nearly as large as she is when he's first confronted at the end of Eldest, although this is only because Galbatorix did it, Thorn is still mentally only a few months old despite having the body of a grown dragon..

Proud Warrior Race: The Urgals qualify after Eldest. Elves and Dragons have traits of this, too.

Psychic-Assisted Suicide: During one battle, Blödhgarm gets control of an enemy mage's mind, forcing him to kill himself with magic.

Psychic Powers: Anyone who can use magic also gains the ability to touch other minds via a Mind Probe. It is also mentioned that non magic users can have this ability too(then called "Mindbreakers"), although so far the only mentioned case of this is with dragons (who technically are magic users, but not at will).

Psychic Static: This technique can be learned by just about anyone with the right willpower to block psychics. It seems to be widely used in governments, to prevent any rogue Mindbreakers from stealing important information.

A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: This is discussed. Neither of Eragon's teachers, Brom or Oromis, taught the Big Bad of the series, Galbatorix. Oromis says he's glad for it because Galbatorix made sure to personally kill anyone that was involved in his teaching. However, Oromis did teach Morzan, who became Galbatorix’s right hand man.

Surroundings and settings tend to be somewhat excessively described. Noticeably less in Brisingr, and to a lesser degree, in Eldest.

Happens in-universe when Orik drinks faelnirv – he claims it gives you "the gift of loquacion", but rather than making him talk a lot, it makes him speak this way.

Reality Ensues: Having always used an enchanted sword which was impossibly sharp and did not dull, Eragon never had to bother using whetstones to maintain the edge. When he must use a regular one in Brisingr he gets annoyed at how often the blade must but sharpened, and realizes that a few of his techniques such as blocking with the edge rather than the flat only worked because of the magic and are not at all practical.

Rejection Ritual: Some crimes in dwarven society are punishable by a form of banishment known as vargrimstn, where they treat the exile as though they had ceased to exist. Eragon notes how chilling it is when after one high-ranked dwarf is pronounced banished, the other dwarves act as though his continued ranting is just ambient noise, and when he grabs hold of one of the other council members, the guards that pull him away do so with an attitude suggesting that they're just helping the councilor straighten his clothes.

La Résistance: The Varden, with support from both the dwarves and Surda, has been opposing Galbatorix's rule for the better part of a century.

Retcon: A couple of details (see BFS on this page for an example) were changed, generally for the better. Mostly averted with regard to the actual storyline.

The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified: The Varden (rebellion) is good, while The Empire is evil. The Varden does have its bad eggs, however, and Inheritance explores the fact that once Galbatorix is defeated, there's still a vast Empire to rule over, most of which just consists of ordinary citizens who were subjugated by Galbatorix's rule.

Rule of Cool: Possible Lampshade Hanging when the elven blacksmith chastises Eragon for specifying a design for purely aesthetic reasons, as well as by Angela in the battle at Feinster.

Sand In My Eyes: Every emotional scene is punctuated with "a single shining tear". This leads to the unfortunate implication that many of the characters never cared much for their loved ones, as more tears have been shed for other, lesser things.

In Brisingr, Arya doodles something about a lonely god in the sand in reference to Doctor Who. Paolini mentions this in the afterword. He says he did it because he's a fan of the doctor. "And to those who got the line about the lonely god, all I have to say is that The Doctor can be anywhere at any time, even alternate dimensions. Hey! I'm a fan too!"

Eragon: "What does it mean?"

Arya: "I don't know."

In Inheritance There's another Doctor Who reference. Angela, the herbalist, is knitting a blue hat with runes around the edge. When asked what the runes say, she responds: "Raxacori—Oh, never mind. It wouldn't mean anything to you anyway." There is a planet in Doctor Who called Raxacoricofallapatorius (it's where the Slitheen come from.)

In Inheritance There are lots of Doctor Who and other references. Including Solembum mentioning a box that was bigger on the inside.

Shown Their Work: While working on the novels, Paolini sometimes spent hours at a time researching on the Internet something like different types of seaweed. He discusses this in an interview with his editor available as a bonus on the audio edition of Inheritance.

Slave Mooks: Most of Galbatorix's soldiers and vassals don't serve him willingly, Murtagh included. He'll either coerce them into swearing loyalty to him in the Ancient Language, or make them by learning their true name. We're also told villagers are regularly conscripted, with any who resist being killed.

Spider-Sense: Eragon's gedwëy ignasia (Shining Palm, the mark he got from becoming a Dragon Rider) sometimes itches when he's just barely missing something significant nearby. For instance, when he's about to be attacked it quite often itches, and having a werecat sneak by at the edge of Eragon's sight seems to have triggered it another time.

Split Hair: Noticeably averted where while training a dragon rider to care for his weapons properly an actual metalsmith points out that you don't want that sharp an edge on most blades, being that fine of a point also weakens the metal by making it so thin it can cut hair meaning the sword in question wouldn't last very long before being damaged beyond the point of usability as a sword rather then a mace.

Straw Character: An argument is presented between representatives of the religious Dwarves and atheist Elves. The Dwarf is as wasteful and ranting, the Elf is calm and wise.

Surprise Party: In Brisingr, after Eragon returns to the Varden's camp and gets settled in, he heads off with Nasuada to what he thinks is going to be a boring dinner of political conversation with nobles who want to fawn over him and his dragon Saphira. But when Nasuada opens the flap to the tent, it turns out to be a surprise party arranged by her and Eragon's adoptive brother Roran featuring most of the villagers of his hometown of Carvahall and many other people he knows and likes (but not Arya, for some reason).

Taking You with Me: Eragon's move that finally unhinges Galbatorix is to cast a spell, along with the power of the dragons, that causes him to feel every feeling that he's evoked in others throughout his life, both good and bad. The agony of it is so terrible that Galbatorix eventually decides he just can't take it anymore and declares "Be not!" in the Ancient Language, annihilating himself and producing a nuclear blast of energy that very nearly destroys Eragon and everyone else with him and would have likely destroyed a large portion of Uru'baen as well had they not been so far underground and had Eragon not cast the appropriate protective spell.

These Hands Have Killed: After Eragon heals the baby Hope in Inheritance, he says that his hands are too bloody for that type of work.

Think Nothing of It: In Brisingr, Angela the herbalist tells Roran this after he thanks her for healing the injuries on his back from whipping. She then changes her mind and says "Or rather, thank something of it, but do not consider it overly important. Besides, it amuses me to have tended injuries on both your back and Eragon's."

Title Drop: In each book. Eragon is obvious. The climax of Eldest drops both the book's title and the title of the series, when Murtagh takes Za'roc from Eragon as his inheritance from their father. After all, he is the eldest brotherBrisingr, the third book, is both the true name of "fire" and the very first spell Eragon ever cast(way back in the first book). More significantly, it is also the name he gives to his new sword after it is forged...with interesting results.

Tonight, Someone Dies: In addition to Ajihad dying in the book's first chapter, Hrothgar at the end of book two. In book three, Master Oromis, the Old Master. Glaedr survives in his Eldunari but is physically dead, and exists merely as an Eldunari in the final book. Also, Islanzadi in the final book.

Eragon. Special mention during Eldest, in which he is trained to the level of a full Rider in a fraction of the time it should have taken.

Roran. In the same title that Eragon is taking his level in badass, Roran is doing the same - going from simple farmer to fighter of Ra'zac and badass leader of the entire village of Carvahall.

Trilogy Creep: What was once a "Trilogy" is now a "Cycle" with four books, considering Brisingr (the third, and what was meant to be the final, book) was around 900 pages and not even at the halfway point of completion.

Turned Against Their Masters: Spirits, which can be summoned by sorcerers to accomplish magical feats, will do this at the first opportunity if the sorcerer isn't capable, to create shades.

Twist Ending: Eldest reveals that Murtagh and Eragon are brothers. Inheritance reveals that they are actually half-brothers who share a mother.

Unmanly Secret: Referenced in the thoughts of the Varden leader Nasuada in Inheritance when she thinks about how certain men within her army have revealed things about themselves to her that would be surprising given that their outward loves seemed to be only "wine, women, and war," such as a tendency to memorize romantic poems.

Sloan: . “You’re nothing but the yellow-bellied offspring of a canker-ridden bunter. You’re a bastard, you are, and an unlicked cub; a dung-splattered, tallowfaced rock-gnasher; a puking villain and a noxious toad, the runty, mewling spawn of a greasy sow. I wouldn’t give you my last crust if you were starving, or a drop of water if you were burning, or a beggar’s grave if you were dead. You have pus for marrow and fungus for brains, and you’re a scugbacked cheek-biter!”

Vanity Publishing: The series started as this, before a larger publisher got their hands on it.

Veganopia: Elven society. Justified somewhat in that it's difficult to eat something when you can hear its thoughts and empathize with it.

Visionary Villain: Galbatorix. He has grand plans for ushering Alagaesia into an era of peace and prosperity. Too bad he uses such brutal means to achieve his ends...

War Is Hell: Though the series has endured criticism for glorifying war, the characters regularly discuss how fighting and killing stains both their hands and their souls, how it gives them nightmares and troubles them during the day besides and try to find ways to resolve conflicts peacefully when they can.

We Are as Mayflies: The Elves, in relation to humans. Also, the Riders, if they live long enough.

We Can Rule Together: In Brisingr, Eragon receives this offer from his father Morzan.... but A.) It was only a nightmare (Morzan had long been dead.) and B.) Morzan wasn't really his father; he just thought that he was, until he later learned otherwise. Later Galbatorix offers this for Nasuada when she's his prisoner too. Unsurprisingly she refuses.

Saphira: Nothing out of the ordinary ever occurs to me when I'm by myself. But you attract duels, ambushes, immortal enemies, obscure creatures such as the Ra'zac, long-lost family members, and mysterious acts of magic as though they were starving weasels and you were a rabbit that wandered into their den.

What Measure Is a Mook?: Played With. Eragon and many of the heroes slice through enemy soldiers and Urgals with abandon because of the war. Though as the books continue, Eragon does try to factor in that many of his enemies are just normal people, conscripts, or even forcibly drafted with magic. After the climactic battle in Eldest Eragon makes a point to help all injured soldiers regardless of faction, and when seizing a future city he offers a chance of surrender to the Empire's soldiers, and demands his allies treat those that took the offer with respect.

What the Hell, Hero?: Four examples: Firstly, Murtagh heavily criticizes Eragon's (and the Varden's) moral stance and allegiance at the end of Eldest, going so far as to say that Galbatorix isn't bad enough to earn what Eragon's doing to the Empire. Secondly, Sloan gives Eragon a massive tongue lashing in Brisingr when he encounters him, complete with lots of fantasy swear words. Thirdly, after Eragon attempts to heal Elva of her curse, he makes a mistake and only succeeds in making it painless, leaving Elva still empowered but no longer shackled down with a desire to help others, turning her into an Anti-Hero. Shortly after, he decides that she isn't mature enough to handle such power and tries to take it from her, whereupon she puts him down and tells him he's behaving as Galbatorix would. And fourthly, a soldier in Feinster complains about Eragon "taking glory for himself" by disrupting the peace and slaughtering even those who have been forced to serve the Empire. YMMV, but some people consider such moments a Crowning Moment of Awesome.

Words Can Break My Bones: The Ancient Language, being the language used for magic, is perfectly capable of killing you. If mishandled, it can also kill its unwary user.

The Worf Effect: Islanzadi, an established badass, is killed without significant effort by Barst.

Ye Goode Olde Days: Everybody is always rambling about how awesome the days before Galbatorix were.

Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: The archaisms in the books are often used incorrectly. An example would be Orik saying "mine King, Hrothgar." "Mine" is only used before vowels. Characters also use "thou" and "you" within the same sentence. This may be a stylistic decision on Paolini's part, though some (especially those who know a bit about old English) feel that it breaks the Willing Suspensionof Disbelief.

You Are Not Alone: Both Brisingr and Inheritance end with Eragon and Saphira at first feeling a sense of loss and emptiness, but then realizing that they are not alone and they both have people to help and guide them, as well as people of their own to help and guide.

Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Elva, being the emotional manipulator that she is, purposefully uses this tactic against Eragon, telling him that Galbatorix would approve of his actions. This leaves him badly shaken and questioning his morals. Why he didn't come to this revelation right after what he did to Sloan is anyone's guess.

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